Blankenship Will Serve 1 Week For Each Of The 52 Miners Who Died While He Was CEO

Oh, and "thoughts and prayers" by chickenshit pols, R and D - One will support tougher mine safety penalties or rules.

EDIT

Manchin is a co-sponsor of legislation that would make certain violation of mine safety and health laws a felony, but that legislation is going nowhere fast in Congress.

“In our state, we will not allow the prioritization of production and profits over the safety of our workers,” Manchin, who was governor at the time of the explosion, said in a prepared statement. “No sentence is severe enough, and no amount of time in jail time will heal the hearts of the families who have been forever devastated, and I pray that this sentence brings them some closure.”

Capito is not a co-sponsor of the mine safety legislation. “Coal mining is a proud West Virginia tradition, but it is not without risks,” she said in a prepared statement. “The safety of our coal miners must always be paramount. I respect Judge Berger’s decision and agree that those who break mine safety laws should be punished to the full extent of the law.”

None of West Virginia’s three Republican congressmen, Reps. David McKinley, Alex Mooney and Evan Jenkins are co-sponsors of House legislation to toughen penalties for mine safety crimes. “Six years after the loss of 29 miners at Upper Big Branch, we continue to grieve with their families, friends and fellow miners,” Jenkins said in a prepared statement. “We will remember them and strive to make mining safer to prevent future tragedies.” McKinley and Mooney did not respond to requests for comment on Blankenship’s sentencing.

United Mine Workers of America President Cecil Roberts said he was pleased with the maximum sentence, but called the one-year limit a “travesty.” “There were 52 people killed at Massey mines while he was CEO of that company. The penalty he has received means he will get one week per death,” Roberts, whose union has battled Blankenship for decades, said in a prepared statement. “Don Blankenship deserves to go to jail, for that is surely where he belongs. And although this sentence will not begin to make him atone for his crimes, there is a higher court he will answer to someday, and I have complete faith that the justice he receives there will be more than adequate.”
- See more at: http://www.wvgazettemail.com/blankenship-trial/20160406/politicians-react-to-blankenship-sentencing#sthash.RSdXqpl3.dpuf

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http://www.wvgazettemail.com/blankenship-trial/20160406/politicians-react-to-blankenship-sentencing